Barriers to compliance with emergency department discharge instructions: lessons learned from patients' perspectives.

The objective of this study is to understand patients' perspectives about system-based barriers that may influence decision-making regarding following discharge instructions. In this qualitative study, subjects were interviewed by phone 1-4 weeks following being discharged to home from the emergency department (ED). We used a semi-structured interview guide to ask a series of open-ended questions about subjects' recent ED visit and subsequent course, including discharge instructions, whether or not they complied with those instructions, and reasoning behind their decisions to follow-up or not. All interviews were recorded and transcribed to identify themes among the transcripts, which were analyzed to identify barriers to compliance. While the majority of those interviewed expressed no specific concerns or challenges, four system-based themes did emerge regarding patient attitudes toward and experiences with discharge instructions. They were: (1) failure to ensure clarity about diagnosis at the time of discharge from the ED, (2) failure to identify patients' feelings of hopelessness regarding the utility of follow-up, (3) difficulty in scheduling follow-up appointments, and (4) the importance of a clear discharge process. This study finds several system-based barriers might influence compliance. The four identified themes suggest a recurring cycle of visiting the ED, being discharged to primary care or specialists, and ultimately returning to the ED. We propose that systems-based interventions may help to break this cycle.

Tissue underlying the intestinal epithelium elicits proliferation of intestinal stem cells following cytotoxic damage.

The goals of this study were to document the proliferative response of intestinal stem cells (ISCs) during regeneration after damage from doxorubicin (DXR), and to characterize the signals responsible for ISC activation. To this end, jejuni from DXR-treated mice were harvested for histology, assessment of ISC numbers and proliferation by flow cytometry, crypt culture, and RNA analyses. Histology showed that crypt depth and width were increased 4 days after DXR. At this time point, flow cytometry on tissue collected 1 h after EdU administration revealed increased numbers of CD24(lo)UEA(-) ISCs and increased percentage of ISCs cycling. In culture, crypts harvested from DXR-treated mice were equally proliferative as those of control mice. Addition of subepithelial intestinal tissue (SET) collected 4 days after DXR elicited increased budding (1.4 ± 0.3 vs. 5.1 ± 1.0 buds per enteroid). Microarray analysis of SET collected 4 days after DXR revealed 1030 differentially expressed transcripts. Cross-comparison of Gene Ontology terms considered relevant to ISC activation pointed to 10 candidate genes. Of these, the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family member amphiregulin and the BMP antagonist chordin-like 2 were chosen for further study. In crypt culture, amphiregulin alone did not elicit significant budding, but amphiregulin in combination with BMP antagonism showed marked synergism (yielding 6.3 ± 0.5 buds per enteroid). These data suggest a critical role for underlying tissue in regulating ISC behavior after damage, and point to synergism between amphiregulin and chordin-like 2 as factors which may account for activation of ISCs in the regenerative phase.